Who was the first actor to play Batman?
Movie and comic book fans alike love nothing more than debating who “their” Batman is. Ever since the Dark Knight first swung into the pages of DC Comics in 1939, he has been adapted for the big and small screens more times than any other superhero. This has meant that different generations have grown up with their own interpretation of the character they believe is definitive.
For some people, Michael Keaton’s gothic avenger is “their” Batman, while others point to Christian Bale’s more modern, realistic incarnation from the Dark Knight Trilogy. Equally, older folks will maintain Adam West’s campy 1960s version is the only Batman that matters, while hardcore nerds will only ever hear Kevin Conroy’s voice in their heads.
Who was the first actor to play Batman, though? Well, that honour belongs to Lewis G Wilson, the young star who played the character in the 1943 movie serial Batman. This 15-episode serial was shown in cinemas weekly and came along only four years after the character debuted in the pages of the comics. Wilson was only 23 years old at the time, and Batman was his screen debut. The serial received good reviews at the time and was so successful that it was re-released in cinemas in 1954 and 1962.
Unfortunately, though, time hasn’t been particularly kind to the serial or Wilson’s performance as the Caped Crusader. The plot sees Batman working for the US government to hunt down the villainous Japanese spy Dr Daka and let’s just say the depiction of Japanese characters would be considered wildly inappropriate today.
On top of that, the serial’s obviously limited budget meant the Batman costume looked oddly baggy on Wilson, despite him having a paunch. Overall, it made him appear more like a middle-aged dad in a Halloween costume instead of an honest-to-goodness superhero. Oh, and he had a Boston accent. Weird.
So, how many actors have played Batman on TV?
Of course, Batman has been played on the big screen by actors like Keaton, Bale, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson. The character has also appeared on television over the years, though mainly in an animated form.
The most iconic TV incarnation of Gotham’s Guardian is obviously Batman, the ’60s show starring West and Burt Ward as Robin. That show was a phenomenon for the three years it aired, introducing the wider public to the character and pioneering a campy approach to comic book adaptations that would later cause widespread nerd consternation. There are only a couple more actors to name in terms of live-action TV versions of Batman, though. You see, Warner Brothers and DC tend to like to save the character for movies, so any TV appearances are minimal and/or glorified cameos.
David Mazouz played a young Bruce Wayne for five seasons of Gotham on Fox and finally appeared in a close-up shot in full costume in the series finale. Scottish Game of Thrones actor Iain Glen guest-starred as an older, wiser Bruce Wayne on 11 episodes of the DC Universe/HBO Max show Titans, while David Miller had a cameo as a deceased Wayne in the short-lived CW effort Gotham Knights.
Move over to animation, though, and the list of actors who have lent their gravelly voices to Batman is extensive. The first animated Batman was Olan Soule, who voiced the character in Super Friends before Kevin Conroy defined the modern voice of the tortured, angsty hero in Batman: The Animated Series in the ’90s. Rino Romano portrayed a younger hero in a 2003 Kids WB show called The Batman before Diedrich Bader played an incarnation for kids in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Bruce Greenwood portrayed the character in Young Justice, and Anthony Ruivivar tried his hand in the computer-animated Beware the Batman in 2013 before Keith Ferguson played a comedic take in Teen Titans Go! Finally, and most surprisingly, none other than Ethan Hawke played Batman in the bizarre pre-school animated show Batwheels.
By my count, that makes 12 actors who have played Batman on TV – and let’s not even get started on the litany of animated movies.
But which actor has played Batman the most number of times?
The name of the actor who takes the crown for playing Batman the most will be Manna from Heaven for devoted comics fans. You see, Kevin Conroy defined the character for an entire generation with Batman: The Animated Series – so much so that most comics readers probably hear his inimitable voice in their heads when they read the character’s adventures.
Conroy was such a hit with fans and critics alike, though, that he then played Batman again in dozens of animated and video game projects over the next 30 years. On TV, he was part of shows like Batman Beyond, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Static Shock and Justice League Action, while gamers will recognise his unmistakable tone in the iconic Arkham Asylum games.
When he sadly passed away in November 2022, Conroy’s co-star Mark Hamill – who so memorably portrayed The Joker opposite Conroy in countless projects – said he would never voice the Clown Prince of Crime again because, “Without Batman, crime has no punchline.”
